Star Catcher
by VesperChan
Summary: Sakura was adopted by Kakashi when he found her in the woods and pulled her from the water. Years later she thought she was mostly normal, until she loses the person closest to her and is forced into a deadly game of magic, stars, and shattered memories to get him back. Sakura Centric & Sakura Multi Urban fantasy AU
1. The Whale

**Star Catcher**

**Summary**: Police Chief Kakashi found a small girl in the woods and pulled her from the pond muck to raise as his own. Years later in the slightly odd town of Delphinium, where nothing exciting ever seems to happen, events are thrown into motion that kick off an enchanted game as old as starlight. The game takes its toll on those who bear the mark, both the young and the old. Sakura loses something precious to her and must compete in the games to win back what was taken from her, no matter the cost.

_Falling Stars don't fall forever._

* * *

Part 0-1

* * *

I imagined a dark world where the stars clamor to be inside us. Whatever we invent becomes the history we have to live. In truth, it takes only a handful of history's shadows to commandeer our dreams It takes a famine of the heart to empty the streets of our words. It takes an imaginary terror to rid ourselves of imagination.

_._

_-Richard Jackson,  
"Involuntary Beginnings," Resonance: Poems (The Ashland Poetry Press, 2010)_

_._

* * *

When he discovered her Kakashi thought he had finally found Rin, but twenty years later, Rin wouldn't still be a child like the little girl he pulled from the pond muck. Rin would have been grown just like him. The girl he discovered was small enough to cradle in the crook of one arm while he pushed back the curious snouts of his dog companions.

He turned the body over, half hoping to see her eyes, and half dreading the possibility of meeting a milky sheen, but her lashes fluttered and she coughed up the dirt and pond water of the same color. Kakashi let go of an unsteady breath and then breathed a little easier.

He checked the radio on his belt next, but knew that even if it had been charged, they were still too far out for anyone to pick up. He'd take her back to the cabin and then call to see who was missing a kid. With the Washington forests, civilization had never had any illusion of a hold in some places still, so it wasn't uncommon for hikers to get lost or turned around while out.

"Stop that," he told Bull before pushing the puppy away and ignoring the whine. His young pack was all a bit too eager to sniff and huff at the small child in atypical behavior. Sure, they were friendly, but they seemed especially anxious when it came to kids. He was a hypocrite to chastise them for it. Kakashi knew they only followed his example.

When he carried her back he managed to reign his heart back from the lows it sunk to whenever he thought of Rin. She had been a forbidden thought for so long, but hope broke all rules. Years ago she had sunk into a pond in the same forest and never turned up. Swim after swim and search after search resulted in the same disappointment.

"This one is lucky," he hummed out loud, cradling the small child closer to his chest. Bull jumped again but Kakashi kept the girl out of reach and safer than safe. "We're going to take her home and get her cleaned up."

At his heels the other dogs sniffed at the earth and shuffled along around his heels, keeping closer than normal. He kept talking out loud to put them at ease as they passed under the ancient prances that made the canopy something too far out of reach for mortal men. So deep and so far from anything man made, the forest could be imposing, even to animals.

Kakashi felt a tingle in his spine and started to jog. Home was far off and he was eager to reach the cabin sooner rather than later. Once there he could charge the radio and get a hold of someone who could help.

It took almost another hour but the Cabin finally came into view and the rest of his pack broke out into a dead run, happy to be home. Most circled back to stick at his side, but other ran headlong towards the property boundary line and frolicked there, waiting for him to join them.

Kakashi glared at his runaway traitors but they yapped, too happy to care about his disapproval. He pulled back the screen and the heavy door swung open on creaking hinges he purposely kept noisy. So far out in the middle of nowhere, in a cabin with nothing of great value, there was no point in keeping it locked.

Keeping her in his arms, Kakashi slipped the radio off his belt and into the charging station before moving to the back where the bathroom would be. She was still damp and dirty and he was worried about fever setting in.

He let the warm water run and laid her down on the couch in the living room, cradling her head as it tried to stay in his hand. He tried to ignore the way that made his chest pinch. She had such a soft face full of baby fat and dreams.

Half of his dogs were settling down around her couch while the others slunk off to their usual haunts, happy to be home.

As the tub filled up he went back to the radios and pulled the extra out and radioed in. There was nothing but static and he cursed. Changing the channel he tried again and got nothing in response to his calls. Someone wasn't listening when they should be…or they let their radios go dead like he had. Of all the days for him to fuck up.

He moved to drop the radio back into the dock when something broke the static.

"Hound dog there?"

If it had been any other day for any other reason he would have ignored the voice, but he had no one else.

"It's Kakashi. I've got a kid out at the cabin in bad shape. You hear anything about a missing girl?"

"Cabin?" Anko squawked. "Where did you find her?"

On the other end of the connection he could hear the rev of her four wheeler and knew she was likely the only one close enough to reach him in any respectable amount of time. She would probably do a better job of caring for the girl, even if she was a psycho.

"How soon can you get here?" he asked.

"Already on my way. Ten, maybe five minutes."

"I'll keep trying the others." And then because she was helping him he added, "Thanks."

The tub was nearly filled and steaming so he turned the water off and let it cool. He searched through the old closet for something she could use after she changed and found a couple of dresses that would fit too well. He recognized one of them after a second glance and stuffed it back into the darkest part of the closet, keeping the other one out.

Anko's jeep rumbled outside, beckoning Kakashi to the porch where he could stand to watch her dismount. She dropped her helmet on the seat, not bothering to tuck it away, then took the stairs to his porch two at a time. She clapped him on the shoulder and grinned when he held the door open for her.

"Such a gentleman," she teased, shedding her jacket onto her wrists and then tossing it onto the wall hook where it caught and hung itself perfectly. Her sharp eyes scanned the room and then she turned back with an unspoken question.

"She's on the couch, still asleep. I'll drive her out once she's cleaned up and better. I don't think she has fever, but she was damp almost the whole way back."

Kakashi moved to point out the cradled bundle and frowned when he noticed Bull in the process of climbing up onto the couch next to her. Caught, the dog whined and bowed his head as he slipped back down onto the floor, tail slapping intermittently when he thought no one was looking.

"She looks fine," Anko groused, leaning over the kid. "She's just small and cold." Anko reached down to pick the girl up and carry her off.

Kakashi made his way into the kitchen and prepared what he could with the limited resources available. He had a waffle maker and just enough batter for a 'breakfast for dinner' spread. It was already twilight and growing dimmer every minute. Summer could only hold up the sun for so long.

He was halfway through the batter when he heard Anko's call from the other room. He pried the latest waffle off the grill and left it where it sat, wiping his hands clean on his jeans. The door was partially ajar, but he didn't cross the threshold or push it open for the sake of the girl's privacy.

"What is it?" he asked in a grumble.

"Which mark was it that Rin had?"

He couldn't speak for a moment as all the blood in his body went ice cold. Wordless, he pushed open the door and stepped in, kneeling down behind Anko as she dried off the girl who was mostly awake, but still mostly out of it.

There was a drowsiness in her eyes as she blinked up at his arrival. Anko had her wrapped in a towel, but he could still see it. Just under her collarbone, above where her heart would be, the freckles of her body stood out in the shape of a familiar constellation, not the same as Rin's, but a constellation all the same.

"Well?" Anko snapped impatiently.

Kakashi already knew the answer without having to brush the hair out of his dead eye. "No, it's different, but she's a part of a new set all the same."

Anko cursed and Kakashi bristled at the language being spoken in front of a child, but Anko didn't care. "I thought that hunt was over. My mark hasn't burned in years. Not since-"

Kakashi cut her off. "Neither has mine, but that's not to say it couldn't, especially now that another person has showed up with the markings."

Kakashi swallowed when the girl opened her eyes fully to regard him, still looking drowsy. She didn't look a thing like Rin when her features were taken into question, but that didn't stop the gut punch reaction that echoed inside his heart when her eyes met his.

"Hey kid," Anko interjected, saving Kakashi from what would have been a fun little panic attack. "Where are your parents? Do you remember anything?"

"What's you name, sweetheart?" Kakashi tried in a softer voice.

She had started to move her gaze around the room, but like gravity, her eyes fell on his face once more. "Sakura."

"Sakura, what a pretty name. Do you know where your family might be, or what their names might be?"

Sakura started to shake her head before something like a thought made her pause and nod instead. She swallowed before answering. "They're all gone."

"Who's all gone?" Anko asked, not minding how Sakura seemed to ignore her.

"All of them." She raised her little hands and curled her fingers. "A big whale just…." She mimicked taking a big bite of something and then swallowing.

Kakashi felt the panic building once more.

"Cetus," Anko hissed. "Kakashi, whoever her folks were they're-"

"That's enough," Kakashi interrupted with a firm whisper. He moved closer and knelt down in front of Sakura. He reached for her shoulder and then moved his hand instead to cup her cheek, one thumb tracing a path under her eye. "That's enough of that."

With his other hand he moved aside the long hair and his dead eye opened.

* * *

Several Years Later

* * *

Sakura opened her eyes to a mess of fur by her face. It was almost enough to make her sneeze. Turning over wasn't much better as a new coat of fur sandwiched her in on the other side. Behind her knees another warm body rested.

Mop whined and Sakura reached out to scratch his back along the ridge where his spine stood up. He stretched happily with the contact and then flopped back down against her side, huffing in contentment.

"I must have been noisy again," Sakura breathed, speaking more to herself than the dogs hogging her bed.

When she got restless or noisy in her sleep it agitated the dogs and Kakashi didn't stop them from climbing into bed with her when she slept, so it wasn't rare to wake up sandwiched between four or five dogs that all wanted nothing more than for her to sleep as peacefully as the rest of them.

Unfortunately for them, fifteen years later and she still had nightmares about things she didn't even remember.

"I have class today, you guys need to move," She hissed, wiggling in place under the blankets. "_Guuuuys_."

From the doorway she heard a chuckle and sat up on her elbows to see Kakashi in her doorway, sewing up the holes in one of his old shirts. His stitches were messy but efficient, which was the only thing he cared about.

"You let them in," Sakura grumbled.

"Don't complain. You know you can't sleep without them." He pushed off the doorframe and started to head back down the stairs, calling back over his shoulder. "Breakfast is on the counter. Hurry and get it so I can finish feeding the rest of the dogs."

Mop and Bagel perked up at the mention of food like it was magic, but it was Chainsaw, the tiny Jack Terrier who slept behind her knees, that took off first, barking all down the stairs. Sakura flapped her covers up and the rest of the dogs scattered.

It took her a few minutes more to dress and clip up her hair in a messy bun that would hide how she had skipped a couple day's showers. She could do that when she got done with classes, but the mornings were always too busy for her to squeeze one more thing in.

Pancakes were in a glass dish on the counter. A plate was left out along with the apple sauce and blueberry syrup. She peeled up the glass lid and inhaled the apple chunks Kakashi had folded into the pancakes.

"You're being extra nice to me today," Sakura hummed in new delight. She served herself and joined him at the counter where he read the paper and drank his first coffee of the day. By the time he made it to the station she knew he would need another.

"You have midterms today."

Sakura speared the pieces of her pancake and dragged them through the blueberry syrup. "I had them yesterday too. Why the pancakes today?"

Kakashi smiled over his paper . "It's just a treat to celebrate you wrapping up another leg of your education. After today you're free for a while."

Sakura snorted and moved the food around in her mouth to make decipherable words. "Yeah right. You've got me booked up. Camping was enough but all the other stuff…"

She grabbed for the water and swallowed what she could before going back for more, knowing well and good that Kakashi watched her in his own way. There wasn't a lot the 'Chief of Police' missed.

"I'll pick you up after classes end. Make sure your phone is charged." His paper crinkled as he folded it back up and left it behind.

Sakura finished a few minutes later and ran around the house, grabbing her books, her charger, the notecards she left by the television, her lip gloss, and something for her hair. At the door Kakashi waited with her water bottle, the one thing she forgot to grab.

"I was going to get that," she grumbled, accepting the HydroFlask with a flush high on her cheeks.

Kakashi's smile made his eyes crinkle.

The old Ford pick up truck was worn in and familiar in the way all comfortable things were. The collection of pine scented air fresheners, dangled from the rearview mirror as they pulled out and turned around to exit the long driveway that hid their house behind a smattering of trees along the main road. It was as privet as they could get while still being close enough to civilization.

The police scanner cracked once or twice, but the entire drive was blissfully uninterrupted for once. Even if their county was quiet, they had enough bored officers and citizens who knew how to clog up the airwaves.

"Did you pack a lunch?" Kakashi asked as he started to turn into the local college's nearest parking lot.

Sakura waved her wallet instead. "I was going to buy something."

Kakashi turned his nose up. "You buy junk. You need to eat better. Here, take this," he said as he began to reach for his own home packed lunch of leftover chicken, green beans and rice.

Sakura scrambled for her door. "No, don't make me take your lunch, I wanna go out with my friends!"

"Don't eat junk."

"I won't." She playfully crossed her heart and smiled, knowing he wouldn't push the issue any more, even if he wanted to. "See you at three."

"Three thirty!" he called after her, but Sakura was already hopping down and throwing the door shut behind her. His truck idled there until she was out of sigh somewhere down the way.

A few of her friends were already inside and at their preferred seats, but another group lingered outside cramming last minute notes. Sakura joined in for a few minutes before she realized their panic was more detrimental than helpful, and found her usual seat.

Nothing else of interest made her take notice as one class turned into two and then three and then lunch and then her last and final class which consisted of watching a documentary while the professor graded midterms in a rush of packets and essay answer pages.

Sakura didn't worry when three o clock came and went. She didn't even worry when three thirty came and passed. At four she started to fret. Her phone had 9% battery and she didn't want to go back inside to charge it, (because she had forgotten her power pack) but once she slipped down to 3% she gave up. She'd be able to watch the circle from somewhere with an outlet.

It wouldn't be the first time he was late, and she doubted it would be the last. Officers had a demanding job and being the Chief, Kakashi was responsible for a lot of what went wrong or awry in their mostly quiet town of Delphinium Washington. It wasn't unusual for him to get caught up and become unable to answer his phone.

One of her friends from the first class passed by and Sakura caught an idea. "Hey, Karin, you heading south?"

The redhead turned with a halfhearted scowl. "_Another_ ride?"

Sakura's smile was one no one could stay annoyed at. "Let me tag along please. Just to the station."

Exhaling, Karin inclined her head in the direction of the parking lots and gestured for Sakura to follow. "Your dad needs to just get you a car or something. You're bumming from someone every week."

Sakura laughed because it was true, she was a habitual ride bum, but she didn't correct Karin about Kakashi not really being her dad. It was a tired and old story she had no desire to try and drag up. She didn't know who her real father was, but it wasn't Kakashi, and he had no desire to take on the title of 'Papa' if his reactions were anything to go by.

The drive from college to station was as long as any other. When Sakura thanked Karin she got the middle finger, which made her laugh because they both knew better. Karin didn't have a drop of venom in her blood when it came to Sakura (but only Sakura). To the rest of the world she was a viper.

The secretary looked up when Sakura pushed the door aside, but relaxed once she saw who it was. "Oh, we figured you'd be by. Kakashi got a call and wasn't sure he'd be able to get you," Kurenai explained. "Tell him to buy you a car, already."

There was soft music playing in the back where the officer desks were set up, while in the lobby there was a table with the day old doughnuts she helped herself to. Kurenai's husband was trying to lose weight so she insisted the morning treats be left where she could see them instead of in the back next to the coffee where they used to always be.

Sakura felt familiar with every detail and aspect of the police station, down to the designs the wood grains made in the floorboards. As a child she had amused herself with looking for rabbits out of the lines and curves, but as an adult she knew better that to let herself get lost in such thoughts. Still, she knew the floorboard under the water fountain had a stain that looked like a turkey.

"I don't mind waiting, and it's not like I couldn't manage if he didn't come for me." Sakura licked powdered frosting off her lips. "Any news on when he'll be back?"

"It's a local dispute he had to run and settle. He shouldn't be much longer. Want to go back and keep his office seat warm?"

Sakura leaned back on her heels and peered down the hallway into the next room where she could see Yamato at his desk, but no sign of the others. It made sense that Might Guy and Asuma be out on patrol, since the former couldn't keep still to save his life, but there were two acting deputies and neither was at his desk.

"Depends," Sakura began in a low voice. "Who's here?"

Kurenai just laughed and went back to answering another email that dinged on her computer screen. Sakura grumbled but stuffed the rest of her doughnut into her mouth before heading for Kakashi's office at the far end.

Yamato looked up from his police report and Sakura smiled back as she pointed to Kakashi's closed door. Sometimes she wasn't allowed in, but if Kurenai said it was okay she doubted the others would bar her from entering.

Wordless, Yamato gestured for her to head inside. When Sakura shot him a funny look he touched a single finger to his lips and pointed to the bathrooms. Sakura heard the water running-_oh_!- and darted the rest of the way to dive into Kakashi's office before the on-duty deputy could spot her. It didn't really matter which one it was, both and them gave her headaches.

The blinds were all turned down, but she hadn't close the door all the way, and sound still carried.

"Who was it that just came in?" Shisui asked.

"Not anyone for you and no one with the missing police report you've owed me for two days now. When Kakashi comes back I'm going to be a hard ass about it," Yamato answered sharply.

Sakura said a silent prayer of thanks to the younger officer for being so understanding.

Of the two deputies on staff, one had all the local connections and knowledge and the other had all the fancy training and big city police connections from his family. Of the two deputies, Sakura didn't mind the first quite so much. Since getting over her teenage crush on Iruka, it had become easier to be around him. Shisui was a whole other monster. Both still gave her headaches though.

The desk was a mess for being as empty as it was, but Sakura set to cleaning it as best as she could without disturbing things she didn't know anything about. There was a photo framed by his desktop computer, but it wasn't of her. Inside the silver boarders a trio of kids smiled under the watchful eye of their Scout Leader.

The photo usually stayed in the top drawer of his desk. Sakura wondered why Kakashi had taken it out.

The door to the office opened before her thoughts could go anywhere else and her heart sank as Shisui's grinning face filled the doorway. Yamato slumped in defeat at his desk past Shisui's shoulder.

"I should have guessed we had a mouse somewhere in the station. What are you doing? Hiding?" he teased, tone far too filled with glee for her liking.

Sakura rolled her eyes and made a gagging expression. "Ugh, don't you have actual work you need to be doing?"

"Sweet tart that's what I'm in here for." He winked her way before crossing the room to the far wall's filing cabinets. "Don't _you_ have any work to get to?"

"No." Sakura turned back to fall into Kakashi's desk chair with her arms crossed. "Not like it's any of your business, but I'm off."

"That sound like so much fun. Wish I could join in with that, but the Chief is a real slave driver."

"Nah, you're just lazy. Yamato even said so."

"It's true!" Yamato called into the office from his desk.

"Lazy doesn't solve seventy three percent of all recent cases."

"Seventy three percent of the cases in Delphinium are disputes about someone's cow stepping on their neighbor's pet cat. Don't act like that's anything worth bragging about."

"That's as good as it gets in Hicksville." Shisui took a half step towards her and bent at his waist in her direction. "Don't miss me too much when I graduate and move on to bigger and better things."

"You mean like a nose job?"

Yamato choked in the other room and Shisui scowled out the doorway. He took a half step back and shifted his weight so that his voice carried when he shouted out of the office to where Yamato sat. "At least my nose isn't stained brown from kissing ass all day long."

"Language!" Kurenai snapped, appearing at the far end of the hall.

For the first time, Shisui appeared to flinch and hike his shoulders. But before anything more could be said or done the front door opened and a pair of shadows darkened the doorway, stomping mud from their boots.

"Is Sakura here?" she heard Kakashi ask from out of sight.

"Here!" she called loudly.

She left the office behind and met him halfway, grinning as he caught her by the elbows.

"You didn't call," she chastised.

"The woods did that thing again. Sorry. I had to restart my phone and then I was practically here. Your midterms all done?"

She nodded and he tucked her under his arm in an affectionate hug while Guy moved in behind him, squeezing around to get to his desk. As he passed, the officer reached out to ruffle her hair like he had when she was eight.

"Kurenai," Kakashi called. "If you need me, my phone should be working."

The secretary gave him double finger guns in acknowledgment.

"It's four thirty in the afternoon," Shisui huffed.

"Practically dinner time," Kakashi cheered, unfazed by the younger Uchiha's exasperation as he waved to Might Guy. "Guy, I trust you with my life and my town."

"Does that mean we're not going to see you for several days?" Yamato asked, interjecting. He looked exhausted.

"They'll be slow days."

Kakashi turned around to help guide Sakura out and into his truck. Climbing in, she caught sight of Shisui watching them from the office window, but didn't bother to flip him the bird this time.

As the engine roused to life Kakashi apologized for the miscommunication or ,more accurately, the lack of communication on his part. It wasn't something that was unheard of, even for county police chiefs with the best cell coverage tax dollars could afford. Everyone had troubles with their phones if they went too deep into the woods.

"What were you doing out there?"

"Nothing too interesting. Some property damage needing inspecting. Most likely another wild animal. How was your day?"

She didn't have a lot to say, but Kakashi listened anyway, and asked extending questions when he could until they were back at the driveway. Sakura got out first to grab the mail and then walk to rest of the way back. When she had been younger, Kakashi would promise to wait for her and then drive off without her, leaving her to scream and run after his taillights. After years of such teasing she knew better than to try and catch him.

The dogs swarmed to meet her halfway back, and she greeted each of them in turn, happy to be back with them even if she enjoyed school and her friends. She dropped the mail by the door and turned back around to throw the toys they pushed into her hands.

Ginger, the Golden Retriever went positively mad when anything was thrown for her. Her whole backside shook with the force of her wagging tail while Chainsaw, the terrier, and Bagel, the Russian wolfhound, tried their best to keep up with her. Bagel was fast, probably the fastest of the lot, but Ginger was a magnet on anything thrown, and if Bagel lost track of the stick or ball, it was all Ginger's.

Kakashi's dogs, Shiba and Biscuit barked and ran around her legs while the rest of his senior pack was content to watch from the deck. A few minutes later when she turned around, Kakashi was there too, looking just as tired and lazy as his pack, but holding out a skillet with cheese quesadilla for her to see.

"Snack?"

Sakura couldn't help but smile. "You'll ruin my dinner."

Kakashi scratched at the back of his neck. "I think dinner might need to be take out again. I didn't pick up enough meat for what I had planned. Pizza sound good?"

Sakura grabbed the cheese oozing quesadilla from his skillet and started to chew without napkin or plate. The dogs started to all whine, smelling food that she had no intention of sharing with them.

From inside, the phone rang but Kakashi ignored it after checking the number off the caller id. When Sakura asked who it was his only reply was, 'not important.'

Sakura raised half her butt to rest on the railing and stared off into the dark shadows cast by trees. It wasn't as thick as the forest around their weekend cabin, but sometimes the shadows stretched long enough to trick her into thinking the heart of the forest was just beyond her finger tips.

With cheese trailing in a messy string from her lips, she raised her hand and leveled it with her eyes before stretching it out as far as her arm would allow. The tree trunks were right there, thick as her fingers.

"Do I have time for a walk?" she called back over her shoulder.

Kakashi came back to the doorway with an annoyed look as the dogs went wild around his ankles. Their property was fenced in and the dogs had plenty of free room to roam, but exploring in the woods was a favorite pastime they would always go crazy for.

"Did you suddenly forget how to spell w-a-l-k?"

Sakura pasted on her best 'innocent' smile and bat her eyes. "Sorry."

Kakashi held up the silver dog whistle and she grabbed it by the chain, reaching up to kiss his chin before skipping down the rest of the way. At the fence a wild pack whined and paced, tails wagging so hard their whole back ends shook with the force.

Only a few of the older dogs, like Bull and Pakkun, elected to stay behind. Sakura gave both a kiss before slipping out the back gate, leaving only Chainsaw behind, because the Jack Russel Terrier was the only one of the lot who she didn't trust not to come back to her when she whistled 100% of the time, and she didn't feel like leashing him up.

She felt like running.

There was a familiar crunch as her boots dug into the fallen foliage, and then the barks from her pack echoed in her ears, before the rest of the world faded and she became nothing but a single instinct.

Run.

All the stress and study and worry and work fell away like weights as she ran through the trees so knew. The beaten path was faint but familiar. She knew where she was going and she knew she needed nothing but her own legs to get there.

Between the trees no one was there to watch her, to judge or evaluate. Her chest felt lighter than it had in weeks even as her lungs began to burn around the edges.

She ran until she couldn't. The path opened up to a clearing the fed into a shallow dell she could drop into. The path was wide and long and in parts it betrayed the intended road long ago people planned in an act of hubris. The forest was so far out and separated by a great void of civilization, but decades ago men with more money than brains thought it would be only a matter of time before the next city took root in the small town of Delphinium.

Sakura followed the dell until it swelled flat and even with the rest of the forest floor, and the skeleton of a gatehouse hanging onto what was left of the estate's gate. Sakura jogged up past it, knowing well the interior of the four story lodge where a fancy man's driver was meant to live almost a hundred years ago.

Sakura called to Bagel when he ran off to far, and the happy Wolf hound raced back to her side, licking at her hand as she walked over the ruined road and up to the mansion behind the trees. The doors were still there, wood and chewed through in parts, but still more intact than the ones to the gatehouse.

"Let's see," Sakura hummed out loud to herself and her dogs as she pushed open the heavy doors. One gave more than the other, letting her in.

It was just as she remembered it. The footprints in the dust and debris were all from her, telling the story of how she frequented the forgotten manor in the woods. The library was bare of all its books save a handful Sakura had brought over herself, including a field journal that still wasn't finished.

Sakura walked in with the dogs trailing at her heels and found the journal right where she left it. Flipping it open she ran her fingers over the pages, rereading entries about wayward stars and made up forest spirits, before flipping to the end. Blank pages stared up at her and she itched to fill them.

She checked the desk that still stood and pulled out her pencil tin, but all the colored pencils were dull and short. She had forgotten to bring new ones with her.

"Sucks, Ginger," she whined to her Golden Retriever. "I had another dream I wanted to draw too." She reached for the dog and scratched her behind her ears. "Not the one from last night, though."

Mop barked from the doorway, more annoyed at the fact someone else was getting attention. Sakura held out her arms and the Irish Wolfhound trotted over before nearly knocking Sakura over as he tried to wedge himself in between her and Ginger, the other dog.

She laughed and stood, replacing her tin and giving the notebook another longing glance before stuffing it back too. In the hallway she heard Bagel in a room down the hall and jogged down to yell at him. He was between the printing presses once used to print a local newspaper.

The machines were the most eerie part of the whole mansion, she thought after learning how the man who started their local newspaper used his wealth to try and defy nature by building his dream mansion in the middle of _nowhere_. Lost to the forest were a scattering of other homes, some only left with their foundations, that once sought to be a part of the new world's 'city of dreams.'

Sakura called all the dogs to her with the note of a silver whistle and together they made it back in one piece, no worse for wear. Sakura ran like she wanted to beat the dogs back, but they were too much to catch up with and she ended up out of breath, red faced, and too happy to care back on the porch.

"Finally, little miss wilderness decided to join us. I was just about to call," Kakashi said as he held up his own whistle. It would have grabbed the dog's attention enough to let Sakura know she needed to head back. "Did you have a fun run?"

"I wasn't even gone that long," Sakura whined as she stomped the mud out of her boots and then left them by the door. "But yeah, I did. Thanks for asking. Is that pizza?"

Kakashi hummed, moving aside for her to see the box from their favorite hole in the wall parlor. Sakura loved how they piled on the cheese for her. She felt the saliva pool in her mouth and her jaw ached.

"Wash your hands first, you animal," Kakashi chastised.

Sakura was already in the kitchen, hands under the faucet. The dogs were splitting up to take up places in their usual haunts. The phone on the wall rang again.

"Gonna get that?" she called.

"Nah," Kakashi called back. "Pizza is still hot."

"Hey!" Sakura scrambled to dry her hands and join Kakashi before he could take the best slice. For as good as their cheese count was their slice cutting was horrible. Not all slices were cut equal.

Kakashi's smile made his eyes crinkle and she could see the beginnings of crows feet by his eyes.

They took their slices and in the background Kakashi turned the television on to let the news play on mute with closed captions. Nothing reported ever had to do with Delphinium. Occasionally the neighboring towns like Summerwood and Maidborough would have something to contribute but it was always the cities like Brewster, Republic, and Okanogan that had something worth leaning in for.

Sakura was fine with that. She had enough anxiety without having to worry about Kakashi being shot in his cruiser by someone with a chip on their shoulder. The most drama he had to endure was cold soup from a dinner that didn't appreciate his bust of the marijuana ring last year. Things were fine as they were. The nightmares could stay in her sleep.

Absently, Kakashi leaned back and ran a hand over the back of his neck, watching the words on the screen. The phone rang again and he groaned before standing to get it. "If I don't, she'll never give up," he grumbled.

Sakura sat up a little straighter in her seat, wondering who this 'she' person could be. If it was Kurenai he wouldn't act so hesitant. In all the years she had known him, he hadn't dated or taken a lady friend for longer than a week before ruining it. The last one had lasted twelve days and then dumped him in front of the marijuana dinner.

Sakura followed him up to the kitchen threshold and waited behind the wall, listening.

"Oi! I've been calling all day!" a woman screeched through the old receiver. "Haven't you felt it too?"

"You're screaming." Kakashi turned around and glared at Sakura, waving her off. "Take it down a few decibels and try again to convince me to care."

He moved as far as the board would allow him and Sakura knew better than to try and listen any more. He would tell her later if he wanted, and no depth of curiosity on her part would change that. She got back to the table and gasped at Chainsaw chewing on what had been left of her crust, standing on her chair with his forepaws on either side of her plastic plate. He looked unremorseful until Sakura gasped again and chased him off the table and into a corner where he sulked, penned in the time out pen.

"This is why I don't take you on walks."

He whined and looked at her like an angry child being punished. Sakura didn't bat an eye as she returned to the table to get a new slice and eat it where he could see her and whine about it.

Kakashi came back into the room only long enough to stuff what was left of his crust into his mouth before he was reaching for his jacket. Sakura startled.

"Where are you going?" It was nearly dark. "Is it work? You're supposed to be off."

"Not work, but almost work. I shouldn't be longer than a couple of hours but don't wait up for me. I'll take my phone and my dogs."

He scratched the back of his neck as he turned and looked around for his smart phone, helpless until Sakura found it for him. They were a perfect pair, never able to find their own things. When she handed it off he pulled her in to kiss the top of her head and something like fear ran down her spine.

"Do you have to go?" she asked, chest tight.

"I'll be quick."

But when he pulled away her hands fisted at the edges of his jacket, stopping him.

"Don't go, please."

He hesitated but then took her hands and eased them off the zipper trail, rubbing his thumbs into the skin on the back of her palms. "You'll be fine, kiddo. You're not nine anymore."

"It's not that. I just…" Sakura looked up at Kakashi's kind face and felt too guilty to finish her words, so she swallowed them and forced herself to take a step back. "It's nothing," she finally managed to say. "Come back soon."

"I will."

She watched him go, staying on the threshold to outside. He was climbing into his truck with the Delphinium Police writing and the expired pine scented air fresheners. They jostled when he adjusted the rearview mirror.

Sakura convinced herself to breath easy and wave him goodbye. Twilight was settling in and the last few colors of the sky bled out as Kakashi turned the truck around and headed for the road.

"Stay safe," she said, knowing he wouldn't hear her. In the hallway she caught sight of herself in the mirror and frowned. "Don't be stupid," she told her reflection. "He'll be fine."

But two hours turned into three and then four, and then five. He had sent her a text not to wait up and he might be out even later than he thought but he promised to be there in the morning. Nothing else. No name of the woman he was with, no explanation for why he was out, nothing more.

She fell asleep in spite of her worry and woke in the morning to a house too cold and empty feeling in spite of all the dogs. Fear kept her from running, but eventually she made it to the front of the house where she looked out to find the parking path where his truck was supposed to be.

Empty.

* * *

_End chapter 1_

* * *

AN: here


	2. The Drowned Man

**Star Catcher**

**Summary**: Police Chief Kakashi found a small girl in the woods and pulled her from the pond muck to raise as his own. Years later in the slightly odd town of Delphinium, where nothing exciting ever seems to happen, events are thrown into motion that kick off an enchanted game as old as starlight. The game takes its toll on those who bear the mark, both the young and the old. Sakura loses something precious to her and must compete in the games to win back what was taken from her, no matter the cost.

_Falling Stars don't fall forever._

* * *

Part 2

* * *

_._

* * *

In the morning there was still no Kakashi but the fission in her bones remained, so she dragged the old mountain bike out and took the dogs with her. It took almost an hour even with the bike, but she crested a hill and found the road that their truck would take to their weekend cabin. She didn't know what she would do if he wasn't there, but she prayed the itch that spurred her on meant something.

Her throat was dry and her mouth felt like paper, but she would regret forgetting water later. There would be plenty at the cabin anyway.

No more than ten minutes later she saw the tops of the cabin roof and something lurched in her until she moved past the trees and saw the rest. Kakashi's truck was there, parked haphazardly up against the side. She sped down and then jumped from her bike, stumbling and then running for the truck, screaming for Kakashi. It was empty but the keys were still on the seat, along with his cell. It was dead, but she doubted it would have given her any clues even if it wasn't.

"Kakashi!"

Sakura stepped back and ran up into the cabin, finding it unlocked again. She saw the small kitchen with a two person table, the couch, the game table with Monopoly still left out, and the door to the bathroom left open. She ducked into both of the bedrooms, but found them just as empty.

Sakura forced herself to stop and look again, knowing she wouldn't find a body, but maybe she would find some clues.

There was mud in the bathroom, dried, but fresh enough to be only days old at the most. A towel was missing. Behind the vanity the first aid kit that usually was there was missing.

One of the dogs barked, and then the others joined in. Sakura skipped steps to round the back of the cabin and stop at the edge of the dog ring. Under the back porch there was a dark blue tarp that she had never seen before. It was lumpy with something underneath. She inhaled and almost gagged when the smell made her stomach turn.

Mop, began to pace back and forth in front of the tarp, not daring to move any closer while also not taking his eyes off it. She saw his ears were pressed flat against his skull. Like most of the others. Ginger whined and back up, laying down.

The woodshed wasn't far so Sakura grabbed the wood ax and then came back to the tarp. When she moved closer Mop, Fudge, and the others began to bark even more, sounding frantic. Still, not one approached the tarp. The bells of danger going off in her head were ringing louder and louder the longer she stood where the dogs wouldn't go.

Whatever was under the tarp was too big to be a human, unless that human was the size of a bloated Grizzly Bear. But, whatever it was was wet, as evidenced by the way it made the tarp turn dark blue.

Sakura pulled up the front of her shirt and inhaled the smell of fresh cotton and lavender. It was enough.

She slipped the ax head under the tarp and jerked it back.

The barks turned to yips and Chainsaw took off running in the opposite direction along with Ginger.

For a second Sakura couldn't move, and then the petrification broke. She stumbled back and the ax slipped free from her hand, digging into the dirt. The smell was worse and she almost vomited, but swallowed what she could and thought of Kakashi.

"This isn't him," she told herself as she forced her eyes to see the bloody mass under the tarp. "This isn't him, it's not…even…" her words failed her but her brain still finished the thought.

_Human_

The mess was larger than a bear, cleaved open in the front with two mouths, six legs, and a face that looked like it was supposed to split open into two parts. The face flaps connected by muscle lay open, and the teeth circled down its open mouth as far as she could see into its throat. There were no eyes she could see, but she wasn't sure there weren't eyes somewhere.

"Kakashi, what have you done?" she whispered aloud to herself.

Somewhere far off there was thunder.

Sakura tugged the tarp back down and then weighed it down with a stone. She called the rest of the pack back with her whistle, and in spite of his fears Chainsaw did eventually come, but he stayed as far away from the house as he could. She set out water for them before penning them in on the front porch, away from the creature. With the front door open they came in and out as they pleased.

Sakura packed a bag with water, food, and first aid, and then called Kakashi's office phone.

"Delphinium Police Station. Might Guy speaking, standing in for the Chief, how can I help?"

Sakura swallowed and listened to Guy put down whatever paper he had been holding. A second later her voice worked. "Guy?"

"Sakura, what's wrong? You're supposed to be with Kakashi." When she didn't reply right away he called her name again and she swallowed. _Why were her throat made out of cotton?_

"I'm at the…the weekend cabin. Do you know where that is?"

"Yes. Are you hurt? Is Kakashi with you?"

"No."

It came out as a whisper but he heard because he was grabbing his things and getting ready to move on the other end of the line. She could picture him grabbing his jacket and keys so easily.

"Kakashi left last night and hasn't been back. I found his truck at the cabin…with his keys and phone. But-" She choked on the words.

"Stay where you are, I'll come to you. I'll grab-"

"There's a creature here."

Guy went quiet on the other end of the line. Sakura inhaled and tried again.

"There's something dead, something with teeth all down its throat and too many legs. I found it under a tarp under the porch where someone dragged it, but Kakashi isn't _anywhere_."

"And it's dead, you're positive?"

"It was completely gutted. I'm positive."

"Stay where you are, don't leave outside, stay with his dogs, and don't touch that thing. I'll be there in an hour, as soon as possible. Don't tell anyone else."

The line went dead and numbly she dropped it back into the cradle.

Ginger whined by her feet and Sakura reached down to scratch the dog behind her ears. Mop lay on the threshold outside, watching for anything that might come while the others lay on the bricks around the fireplace even though it was cold. Sakura reached for some wood to prep it when she remembered leaving the ax somewhere she shouldn't have.

"I'll be right back," she said to the pack before moving out.

Mop barked at her and Fudge bounded to her side. She kept them on the other side of the gate, something they didn't like, but made her way back down to the back of the cabin. For all she knew something else could be in the woods that they would run after and...

The ax was where she left it. She took it back to the woodshed without managing to look at the tarp, but when she latched the door behind her she couldn't help it. She saw it again and like a spell, her legs turned to stone and she couldn't move. Something across her chest burned.

"You're dead," she hissed to the tarp and forced her legs to move. There was blood in them and she was alive, so she would do as she pleased.

She saw light reflect in the windows and turned sharply to stare back over her shoulder. There was a crackle of purple light and she feared lightning, before she realized lightning was never _that_ color or that quiet when it was that close.

At least…she didn't think it was. There wasn't any boom after the lightning at least. If there was no thunder then was it even lightning?

The dogs were barking wilder and angrier than before. She should have taken one with her. She should have never left the house. She should have never gone out for the ax. She should have never ignored those instructions…

Guy's warning held her like wet paper.

She walked into the forest, following the flicker of purple light until the smell of charred wood took over. She ran and too close for comfort she stumbled into a clearing of black soot and charred trees. A mess of splinters, shattered wood and broken branches lay scattered in different shades of burning. It looked like a bomb had gone off.

The purple flickered once more and she turned to find it coming from something standing out of the ash.

_What the hell?_

She grabbed a stick and approached, digging away the dark ash until a card fell sideways. The purple flickered once more and then died. The energy humming in the air she hadn't noticed before went out and she felt able to breath again.

The back of the card was blank, but when she turned it over the edges shimmered in opal shine. Her chest pinched and burned like she needed to scratch it, but she edged closer and knelt down next to it to see better.

It looked like a playing card or something from a tarot deck. A man sank under the waves, bubbles of airs trailing from his open mouth as the ropes around his ankles pulled him down. Above him on the land he sank away from was a pack of hunting hounds.

Under the picture was a caption: **The Drowned Man.**

The skin over her heart felt agitated but she couldn't move. Kakashi's face was the one on the card, sinking, dying.

She gripped the card without thinking and something on her chest went from an itch to a burn.

**-_whalesoundsscreamingfiretreetopsandthecrunchsplatsinkingbackupanddown_-**

She screaming, feeling blood wet the inside of her shirt. She dropped the card and tugged at the collar to see down. Her freckles, the ones scattered over her chest like constellations were bleeding. A thin trail of blood slid between her eyes from a freckle on her forehead.

"That's not good."

Sakura jerked up, grabbing the card and turning. A woman stood mere paces away, holding her wet side and looking pale. She grinned and it was a manic sort of expression.

"You've grown up a bit," she coughed, still smiling.

"Who are you?" Sakura asked.

The woman lifted her head and squinted before hiking her shoulders. "He didn't tell you anything, did he? I'm Anko. Kakashi was helping me last night. You're Sakura. I was there when he-when you were found out here."

There was too much for Sakura to unpack.

She knew Kakashi _found_ her. It wasn't a secret no matter how much he hated to mention it. She also knew she had been found in the woods by their cabin, but Sakura had never heard the version of the story where Kakashi was with a woman named Anko.

But really, that didn't matter.

"Where is Kakashi? Do you know where he is right now?"

Anko pointed to the card. "That's his, isn't it?" Then she tapped the back of her neck. "He had a mark here to match it, right?"

"_Freckles_, he had freckles. What mark?"

Anko then gestured to her chest before pointing to Sakura's where the bleeding had stoped but the stains hadn't. "Those aren't freckles, honey."

Then she turned her head to the side and showed off the curve of her neck where a scattering of marks stood out, seemingly innocent as natural freckles until Sakura saw them flash purple. A black ring appeared around them and the mark went out making her grimace.

"I've not been able to do much more than _that_ since the end of the last games. Someone didn't like me and turned them all off. But I guess this all sounds like crazy talk to you. He didn't tell you much of anything I can tell. You're looking at me like I'm crazy, but it is better to get this over with now before-"

"Enough!"

Both Sakura and Anko whirled to see Guy panting at the edge of the tree line. The sun was high in the sky but still smothered by thick clouds. Guy was glaring daggers at Anko who only grinned wider.

"Look at that, the Golden Lion of ours has returned. What are you going to do, repeat Kakashi's mistakes?"

"Don't say another word," Guy bit out, sounding angrier than Sakura had ever heard him. He stalked forward and stopped in front of Sakura, holding out his arm to block her sight of Anko.

"She's seen enough. You're wasting your time." Anko angled her chin up at Sakura's direction. "And besides, she's already been exposed."

Guy glanced over his shoulder and winced at the sight of her blood. "Sakura, I am sorry I was not here sooner. Kakashi wished to protect you from this."

There were a lot of things Sakura wanted to ask, but one question rose to the surface. "Where is Kakashi?" She numbly lifted the card to show Guy. "Where is he?"

Anko started to limp away in the direction of the cabin and Guy snapped at her. "Where do you think you're going?"

"To get cleaned up and find some food. I've been out all night and if you want to know anything more from me I need treatment first." She then continued on her way.

Guy turned around to regard Sakura, grabbing her shoulders and holding her back to better examine the blood stains. "Are you hurt?"

"I don't think so," Sakura mumbled, poking at one of her freckles. The blood didn't flow anymore and nothing hurt. "But that's not important. Kakashi-"

"Is something we'll have to discuss once inside." Guy glanced up at the trees and glared. "The eyes and ears are not where you would expect them to be. Come, we'll talk inside."

Anko was already taking a shower when they got back. Guy started to cook what he found in the deep freezer, things Kakashi had stocked for their weekend retreat, and Sakura sat on the edge of the fireplace, watching the flames catch. There was a crack somewhere outside and then the rain began.

"Do you want to change or wait to use the other shower?" Guy asked, sounding so unlike himself.

Sakura shook her head and then bent closer to Ginger who licked at her face. Mop whined at her feet. "I'm fine for now. I just…" She swallowed and tried again. "_Kakashi_."

"I understand how you must feel."

Sakura glared. "How would you know? What happened to him? Is he safe? Is he even _alive_?"

"Most likely."

But it wasn't Guy who answered. Anko leaned against the bathroom doorway grinning in one of Sakura's old shirts and boy shorts. Guy scoffed and looked away but Anko didn't seem to mind as she entered the living room.

"He's not somewhere we can reach though. He lost, sad to say, so he paid the penalty on his own without any other icons to take the fall for him."

"Anko, Kakashi told you he didn't-"

"Kakashi ain't here and pretty soon _she_ might not be either if you don't explain it," Anko snapped with a flash of teeth and anger. Scars on her arms stood out as she cross them over her chest. "The honeymoon ended. Now its time to clean house. No going back from this now, or can you not smell the rot under the tarp?"

"You dragged him back into it," Guy accused her. "He didn't want any part of this."

Anko rolled her eyes and waved her hand. "Didn't want any part of it, bla, blah, blah. Too bad it wasn't up to him. The world doesn't bend her laws for the wants of man."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sakura asked.

Anko turned her eyes back to Sakura. "Kakashi ran away from something bad long ago, which was his choice. That thing came back and it's just a fact."

"The body under the tarp-"

"Is just the beginning, because running away from things doesn't mean they don't stop coming." Anko sounded old when she spoke.

"Stop that," Guy interjected. "_Enough_, your stories are no good here. Those things ended. We all left them behind. Anything else is just a-a-" He glanced back at Sakura and then back at Anko. "We'll deal with it. We don't drag new blood into it."

Anko's grin was conspiratorial. "No such thing here, mate."

She reached over and flicked Sakura's forehead and Sakura felt heat there. Guy looked to her forehead and there were no words said, but he could see something there. She touched her forehead and felt nothing.

Anko cursed under her breath. "Damn, seal is still holding it back. This will take some more work." She moved towards Sakura but Guy was faster, smacking her hand out of the air.

"None of that!"

"The second and tertiary ones are already awake."

Sakura poked at the freckles under her shirt and felt the dried blood crack. "What happened to me? What does it have to do with getting Kakashi back?"

Anko grinned sideways at Guy, posture smug. Guy just deflated and then knelt down next to Sakura. Ginger whined and licked his hand until he pet her.

"It's a long story, but if you start it, you can't go back to what you had before. You can't be the same person again." He rolled back the sleeve of his uniform shirt and Sakura saw a pattern of freckles on his forearm spaced out like the stars in a constellation…just like hers, and just like Kakashi's.

"They're just freckles."

"Are they?" Anko prodded. "Don't you want to know the truth?"

Sakura looked at Guy's arm and then his eyes. "I don't care about the truth, I just want Kakashi back."

She showered and changed. It was autumn and chilly but she stood with a low cut top in front of the bathroom vanity, tracing her fingers over the freckles and feeling something like electricity sparking underneath her skin.

_'It's a terrible sort of game and we're the players,' Guy explained over the Monopoly game board. He picked up the car and then dropped it. 'Kakashi, me, you, her, different turns on the board, all players.'_

He told her a story that sounded more suited to children, about a world with kingdoms sinking into the sky, desperate for champions to bring them down, of monsters made to provoke the players to take action when they grew too docile.

A long time ago a group of children played the game without knowing the cost. No one remembered them after they lost, except those with the marks.

_'Losers are sometimes taken to the sinking kingdom until the end of the game.'_

When Sakura asked how long the game lasted Anko laughed sarcastically and explained that the game never ended. They thought it ended when a kingdom fell into the sky, but as soon as that happened the fallen kingdom let lose its monsters and started the horrors up anew. That's how it had been for thousands of years, one cycle starting up again every other generation.

_'It's too soon for this again,' Guy had said._

_'Apparently not_,' Anko countered. '_After the Black Acropolis sank we thought it would take decades for it to rise again, but no other kingdom is as used to losing. Of course they'd revive a couple decades later._'

Sakura bent over the sink and shut her eyes, trying to picture it, a scene from a dream the dogs had to save her from, a black tower swallowed in burning thorns. The power to revolutionize the world beat in its halls, leaking out into inky monsters with teeth all the way down their throats and eyes that glowed with the colors of a dying sun.

Those dreams had been just stupid dreams she thought.

But...

What if they weren't?

What else happened in the dreams. Maybe if she could just remember more-

She gasped and looked up into the mirror again and saw the seal flicker and then fade. She concentrated and pushed against it, turning the mark dark enough to see its rhombus shape.

Kakashi's seal held.

_'As long as that holds you won't be caught up in the game. You don't need to be a part of this.'_

Guy's warning made her hesitate.

_'It's the last thing he would have wanted. Kakashi only ever wanted to keep you safe.'_

Dinner rolled in her stomach as she grabbed the edges of the sink and braced. Sakura thought of Kakashi, she thought of the monster under the tarp, she thought of the woods, she thought of the card with the drowned man still in her back pocket. She thought about the dreams she never wanted to remember and how someone always seemed to suck them out of her memory.

_'All he wanted was to protect you.'_

Sakura broke on a sob and that was all it took as the seal shattered with her will and her skin split open, oozing new blood. She choked and the pain was a spear through her mind as a third eye connected it's nerves to her brain.

A card flickered, turning and revealing the image of a far off night sky, where a single star burned brighter than all the others.**_ The Eye_.** It was the first of her three marks.

The memories came next and she saw it all, the Glass Castle, the Golden Mountain, The Silver Palace, the Black Acropolis, all of them connected on an ever turning ring, where one was forced to sink into the sky beyond the clouds.

She saw the cards falling from each kingdom, soldiers, knights, monsters, champions….each one a means of power that burned itself onto the chosen few.

Dreams showed her other things too, like how a hundred years ago a different man thought he could bring a sparkling kingdom into their world and make a city of dreams out of silver towers. She saw a man with a printing press and a god complex devoured by the beasts of a braver man's nightmares.

She saw men and women, police officers, doctors, children, and vagabond all bleed from marks then die for them. She saw champions rise and losers fall into their kingdoms, chained to its fate for better or worse.

She saw Kakashi, crying for her as she slept through a nightmare, then sealing away all the bad dreams behind her rhombus. Kakashi, making her breakfast with a smile that betrayed his heart. Kakashi, driving her to school. Kakashi, watching her graduate with tears in his eyes.

Sakura fell to her knees, releasing the sides of the sink as the blood from her new eye mixed with her salted tears. Her chest hurt from the loss and less from the marks that were buzzing with new energy. She braced her hand against her heart and remembered Kakashi once more, kissing her hair as she slept and promising her something. _'I'm sorry I'm not your real dad, but I'll keep you safe.'_

"Not fair," she whispered to the quiet room. "You don't get to leave me like that. You don't get to do that…"

One of the dogs whined on the other side of the door. Outside twilight rolled in, making all the shadows the longest they'd be before night swallowed them all up. Anko was in the guest bedroom treating more of her wounds and Guy was…securing the perimeter.

'_It's a long story, but if you start it, you can't be the same person again_.'

Sakura rested a hand over the freckles and swallowed. "Nothing else matters as long as I can get Kakashi back."

Sakura stood and concentrated. There were three marks on her, a single star masquerading as a freckle on her forehead, and two mirroring versions of the same constellation she had found years and years ago. When she spoke, it was like she was an actor reciting lines fed to her. She didn't know how she knew the words, but they were in her, buried deep and unseen like pale bones.

"The Power to tear the world asunder and turn the wheel of fate," she whispered to her reflection. "Give me the power to move kingdoms, **_Crator_**. The power to revolutionize the world!"

Her chest burned and she felt something come out of her, a pair of cards in each hand, one lined in mother of pearl, the other in glittering gold. They burned and she was dizzy with the power. It was too much and she dropped the gold one back into herself, holding the paler one up. The title at the bottom was written in a different language, but then it shifted and she recognized the English.

"_The Chalice_."

The card melted in her hand and the silver chalice in the picture was there in her palm, heavy enough to tip one way and pour liquid starlight free. The room thrummed with power and Sakura staggered, but didn't fall.

Arms caught her around her elbow and hip. Her legs went slack but the stranger pulled her to him and grinned, coming into color as he held her up.

"Finally," she heard him breath in a sigh as soft as velvet. Her face tickled with his breath, winter pine. "I've been waiting ages for you."

* * *

_End chapter 2_

* * *

AN: Coming up with the title to this one was a bit of a challenge, it was a three way tie between the three cards we saw in this chapter: The Drowned Man, The Eye, and Crator (which means The Chalice)

There you go, some fun angst and backstory. Now we know what Sakura wants more than anything and you'll have to keep reading to find out what she'll do or give up to get him back. Thankfully, she won't be alone. She'll have allies...(sexy allies included). Take your best guess at who it was at the end of this chapter. I'm super curious to hear your theories cause I'm sure this one is surprising.

Tune in next week when I update Saturday at midnight or Sunday morning to catch chapter :3.


	3. The Chalice

**Star Catcher**

**Summary**: Police Chief Kakashi found a small girl in the woods and pulled her from the pond muck to raise as his own. Years later in the slightly odd town of Delphinium, where nothing exciting ever seems to happen, events are thrown into motion that kick off an enchanted game as old as starlight. The game takes its toll on those who bear the mark, both the young and the old. Sakura loses something precious to her and must compete in the games to win back what was taken from her, no matter the cost.

_Falling Stars don't fall forever._

* * *

Part 3

* * *

_._

* * *

Sakura felt sick and her legs refuse to keep her upright, but the stranger made out of opal starlight didn't seem to mind picking her up into his arms. She tried to stand again but only faltered further, feeling tingles all through her body like from a sugar low.

He chuckled and moved her to the edge of the tub, supporting her until her back was up against the back wall, but even then he didn't let her hand go. His eyes were wide and shining, so bright and clear she could see her reflection in them.

No third eye.

"Settle here for a moment, love, the rush will pass in wink."

She felt unsettled by the sound of his voice, like it was a sound she was supposed to know but couldn't place, like something from her childhood. It was a nice, warm sound, one she felt she could wrap herself up in and find some measure of comfort in no matter how wild the world around her grew.

"Who are you?"

"Your most eternally grateful servant, that's who!" He laughed and her bones seemed to shiver at the sound. When he looked back down at her he leaned in to add. "But you can call me Asura."

"I'm Sakura."

He chuckled. "I know."

Sakura reached out and touched his face, just to check and make sure it was real. Only moments ago he had been starlight spilled from a cup.

His skin _felt_ real.

She looked down and touched her freckles, finding half of the ones on her chest changed. Light reflected off them like pearls. She poked one and felt the texture change from skin to smooth polish.

"That's new," she breathed, looking up again when he hand settled over hers. "You were the card I pulled out of this mark. I didn't know that was going to happen."

"All the same, I'm glad it did. I'm the _much_ better catch between the pair of us, you know. I'm stronger and better looking, just for starters."

Sakura caught the meaning of his words a heartbeat later. "There was another one inside of me? The other cup?"

He hummed and then moved her hand from her pearl colored freckles to the dull unchanged ones. His fingers slipped off hers to trace the dull pattern there. "The Golden Mountain's Chalice..he's not nearly as strong. I'm from the Glass Kingdom, so yeah, the better version."

"Anko said these marks would give me powers but…" Sakura poked at his face again and he chuckled. "I didn't think it would mean this."

"Not even in your wildest dreams?" Playfully, he turned his face towards her fingers and kissed her index knuckle. She stiffened but didn't retreat, making him grin. "Not everyone can manage it, but many of the cards are related to past champions who came close enough to fail at the very end. It's our own fault, we bound ourselves too close to the game with no mind for the consequences. Speaking of which, that's what you're interested in, aren't you? Winning the game?"

"I… think so. Another person with marks, a player, he lost and now he's trapped in one of the castles. I can get him out if I win, right?"

"You could break the world if you wanted to after winning."

Sakura felt her heart pinch at the memory of what she had only a day earlier. "I just want to bring my family back. I'll do whatever I need to in order to make that happen."

Asura's dark eyes flashed and his grin grew wide. "I love it," he breathed, pushing into her personal bubble until his forehead almost touched hers. "You could unhook the stars themselves if you wished for it with a dedication as steady as yours. I can see it well, you'll drag hell and heaven in your fists if it means getting what you want."

"Which you'll help me with?"

She couldn't be sure, but she was almost positive she felt a shiver from him when his took in her words. "Of course."

The dogs on the other side of the door began to bark again and Sakura pulled herself back, sliding off the edge of the tub without help. He reached for her but didn't take her into his arms again, seeing as how she was able to walk well enough on her own.

Sakura opened the door to the bathroom and a flood of fur and tails poured in. Mop stayed beside Sakura and barked angrily while Ginger, Chainsaw, and Bagel sniffed eagerly at the stranger's legs.

Asura laughed at their curiosity, kneeling down to run his hands over their fur and offer up his face for licks (which Ginger was eager to give out).

When he straightened again Sakura made it a point to try and figure out the style of his clothing. It wasn't a style she was familiar with and she was trying to decide if that was because it was from a different world, or and older time in history.

He caught her staring and grinned, smile stretching his handsome face. He had dark brown hair, dark enough it could be black in the dim light, with eyes of the same color.

"Where did you come from?" Sakura finally asked, a little more at ease now that the dogs had given their approval. Even Mop who didn't exactly like him, didn't see him as a threat to her.

"The card, and a time before long was long. I couldn't tell you in any way that would matter, but it's been a long time since I've been able to watch the world like I have through your mind. The language…." he made an odd shape with his mouth, "is _different_."

Sakura ran his words back over in her mind and frowned.

"I'm going to not think about how you've been spying on me for literal years of my life and just…not go there." She glanced back into the main room and then the kitchen. "Are you hungry? I can make waffles."

There was a toaster and syrup somewhere. Her skills in the kitchen didn't go much further than that.

He followed her out of the bathroom into the living room and peered around, hand at the base of his skull scratching up into his hair. He pulled the wrap off from around his head and then shrugged. "Sure, can't say no to something new."

"You've never had waffles before?"

He laughed at her expression. "No, just bits and scraps of your memory. You know I wasn't _exactly_ spying on you like you seem to think. I just get a filtered down afterthought. It's how us types learn new languages after sleeping for centuries and know how to work developing technologies."

"Like iphones?"

"I mean yeah, but last time I was out and about the typewriter was a big deal somewhere."

"Interesting."

She gestured for him to follow and she led him to where the mixes and ingredients were. The sink was in front of the window and as she washed the bowls to use again she saw further down the road a police cruiser ambling back.

By the time Guy stomped the dirt off his shoes and stepped inside the first of the waffles were coming off the maker. He blinked once at the new male lounging in a seat at the head of the table and then glared at the door to the spare bedroom.

"Anko took off," Guy said.

Sakura closed the lid and turned the waffle maker over before looking up. "What are you talking about? She's just in the guest room. I would have heard her leave."

"No, my dear, you wouldn't have." Guy smiled and it was a shadow of what she was used to.

This new side of the always-cheerful-sorta-uncle figure unsettled her. The sun hung in the sky, the waters of the ocean rolled in waves, grass grew in sunlight, and Guy was made out of cheer. Those were just facts she always understood and knew.

He slid the strap of something off his shoulder and set it on the table with a heavy thunk. He then eyed Asura. "So, which one might you be, sir? I can still feel the magic in my teeth, you couldn't have been summoned very long ago."

Asura grinned and then picked up the simmering glass card with his silver chalice on the cover. Guy made a noise of interest and turned the card over before inspecting the image more closely.

"Congratulations, Sakura. A glass card on your first try."

Sakura freed another two waffles into the dish and poured out enough batter for another set. She turned around to watch Asura stare across the table at Guy. There was an atmosphere there she couldn't describe, but one she didn't appreciate.

"Asura, this is Guy. He's taken care of me before. He's a friend."

"He's a duelist and you competition," Asura replied through a smile that wasn't friendly. His eyes crinkled in a look that better suited a snarl than the smile he kept up. Sakura recognized the atmosphere at once, heart plummeting.

She ran to stand between the two, shoulders hiked and ready to brace for an impact while keeping Guy behind her. Asura blinked and his lip curled. A wrinkle set in between his eyes as he leaned forward in his seat and held up a hand.

"Sakura?"

"_No_. Guy is my family and he's my friend. He helped me when I had no one." Something made Asura's mood shift into something unreadable but she went on. "He is _not_ my competition."

_He watched her like a hunter watched deer out of season._

"The game drives brother against brother, Sakura."

"There is no blood between us but he is my family."

Asura held her stare a moment more before he dropped his head along with his posture. Sakura mimicked the action, breathing a sigh of relief.

"The waffles?" Guy began.

Sakura yelped and dashed back for the maker just as it started to beep, flipping it open and over before the waffles inside turned too dark. From the table Guy laughed.

"It's perfect, I like mine a little dark," he called.

"Sorry," Sakura moaned, setting up a new set. "Wanna help set the table for three?"

Asura stood but Guy was already moving to where they kept the plates. He set them out along with a trio of forks and napkins. Asura straightened what was already on the table.

Guy held out a glass and Asura took it before he knew where it went. Guy filled it with filtered water and then did the same for his and Sakura's glasses.

"It might be better that Anko took off. I'm not sure how she would have reacted if she saw this," Guy said while patting his satchel.

Sakura brought over a glass dish filled with waffles and wiped her hands on her pants. "What is it?"

"A gift from Kakashi and a little of my own efforts I'm afraid. It'll do us no good but if you're as serious about playing this damed game, then it might serve you well."

He opened the satchel and pulled a transparent plastic carrying case out. Sakura could see through it the rows of cards laying against each other. Like Asura's card, they were all thick and long, made of something lighter yet stronger than metal.

Asura stood so suddenly his chair tipped and then clattered back onto its four legs. "Why do you have those?" His glare returned along with the tense atmosphere. "_How_ do you have those?"

"It was a lifetime ago," he said, looking to Sakura. "And I'm no longer bound to the games if I don't wish it. I've no obligation or desire to hold onto these."

"How?" Asura stressed. "That's enough there to-to-" He didn't finish his words but backed up closer to Sakura.

Sakura opened the case and Guy took his seat again, content to sip is water as Sakura pulled out the cards. Each one was faded to the point where lines that once made the images on a card no longer showed up. All the cards were like that, no matter if they had a red or black or gold or silver or glass boarder.

"These look like my cards, but they're all blank." Sakura showed one to Asura who still seemed unnerved. He took it as an invitation and approached her side, hovering over her shoulder.

"They're _unchallenged _which makes them blank like that. Each one is a challenge, a trial, a duel you must best in order to build your own deck." He picked one up and then tapped her forehead. "See if you can see it."

Sakura didn't know what he meant, even if she knew he was referring to the third eye that slept like a forgotten bundle of nerves behind a lilac freckle. She didn't know how to open it.

When she looked up at him he smiled down at her, a head and a half taller. "Just try."

Sakura turned a new card over and held it up alongside Kakashi's **Drowned Man **card. She saw his face and felt the pang in her chest, followed by a shard of anger. How dare he keep this truth from her and then lose his freedom to it. He was her dad, he belonged to her.

There was heat that made her eyes tear up. Salt washed her face, and there was a ripping sound as the skin around her third eye grew its slit. Clear liquid slipped free and dripped down her face but she forced the lids open sideways to allow the eye to roll forward and see the world. Her vision stung and she shut her natural eyes to it, concentrating only on what her third eye could see.

There was something there, something under a layer of snow or ash-no, stardust. Beyond the layers of obscuring dust she could see a new world there, a world where stars hung in the sky making a constellation she recognized. A lion was roaring inside the card and it grew more clear.

With a gasp she felt her eye lids snap shut, shedding a new wave of salt tears down her forehead. She blinked and was able to see anew with her own two eyes. She shook all over and when she stumbled Asura was there to ground her. She felt his lips in her hair, whispering words into her skull she couldn't understand.

"What….did you see?" Guy asked, leaning forward.

"**Leo**, the lion constellation." Sakura looked down at the gold bordered card. "But there was more to it than just an image. There was-there were layers, a world to the card."

Asura chuckled behind her. "You think we just hung out inside a closet for thousands of years? Of course we had our own worlds. Didn't make the wait any less terrible but, tis the nature of the games you lose."

"Lost," Sakura breathed, noticing for the first time that Kakashi's card image was fainter than it had been when she first picked it up, not by much, but…something. "Is that what's happening to Kakashi?!"

"_Eventually_ he'll look like these guys, but before then you'll be able to try and free him now that you're a delist in the games," Guy said. "But such a thing is not easily achieved."

"How long until I can save him?"

"It depends," Asura interjected, glancing at Guy over her head. "If you're strong and blessed with many victories it's always faster and easier. If it is your desire, I will help you conquer the lessers and make great your empire."

Sakura could still see Kakashi when she looked for him, and didn't want his picture to fade before she could save him. She replaced the Leo card and held Kakashi's to her chest.

"I think it's time for waffles first. We can talk later."

* * *

Asura ended up adoring her waffles, and ate almost as much as Guy. He seemed to even tolerate Guy's presence at the table until it was time to turn in for the night.

"I'll be bunking with the new kid," Guy explained while Sakura washed dishes.

"Huh?" Asura turned sharply, drying towel slapping his forearms. "What do you mean, you'll be bunking with me? Sakura, is he staying with us?"

Guy laughed and this time the tense atmosphere was his fault, not Asura's. "Of course. Adult or not, I'll not leave Sakura here with a strange man all alone."

"I wouldn't do anything to harm her! Sakura's my duelist." He glanced back at Sakura, looking to her like she was supposed to jump to his defense. When she said nothing his face fell. "You believe me, right Sakura?"

Her shoulder shrug carried a very strong 'what are you going to do' feeling. "I don't outright suspect you, but I appreciate Guy's offer. We _did_ just meet."

"B-But what if something happened to you, or if someone tried to target you in the night?" He glared over at Guy. "_He'd_ not be able to do anything anymore with his inactive mark."

Guy smiled in the way parents smiled at whining children who were fated to never get what they wanted with their whining. That only seemed to further irritate Asura.

"I think we'll be fine for the night. If you don't want to share a room, I'll put down sheets for the couch out here in the living room. Better?"

"I'd rather keep you in my sights."

Sakura glanced up at Guy. "Maybe I could keep my door open a crack?"

"No need for that. Close your door. I'll hear anything out of order in the night." He looked over at Asura when he spoke about the door. "But you're right, tonight will likely be a quiet night. In the morning when you start to dig into this mess and wake up more cards it will be a different story. Get your good night sleep now. The morning will bring its own trials."

With it decided, Sakura set up the bed for Asura , never minding how he hovered nearby, looking as stressed as he had when he didn't know how to set the table. She left him with a pillow and he made sure to remind her he would be a door away if she needed him or felt unsafe. Guy watched him from the archway to Kakashi's old room, smiling when Sakura waved to him goodnight behind her dogs. With the door closed and the lights turned out, it was only the moonlight that helped her see.

In the sickly silver light she approached the mirror on her closet door. Sakura reached up and ran a hand over the slit of skin that still hadn't fully sealed from when she opened her third eye earlier. Her fingers trailed down and she pulled at her shirt, showing off the freckles. In the moonlight half of them twinkled with sick moonlight.

'_It's a long story, but if you start it, you can't be the same person again_.'

Swallowing, Sakura pawed at her shirt until it was a wrinkle on the carpet and turned slowly, exploring the rest of her body for marks. She found nothing out of the ordinary, but when she turned back fully around she couldn't help but shrink from the sight of herself.

"What's happened to you?" she asked aloud. Her finger pointed to the part of the glass where her forehead was and its slit reflected back her perfect look of horror.

Y_ou can't be the same person again_

* * *

_End Chapter _

* * *

AN: Congrats to those of you who guessed correct. Sakura has two different Chalice markings on her chest, one from the Glass deck and one from the Gold deck. If Asura is the one from the Glass deck who do you think the other Chalice is from the Gold deck?

This one is a shorter chapter but I still like it enough for Sakura's interactions with Asura. He's a fun one to write but there are going to be more and I'm super excited to see them pop up next week.

So it's got me wondering, who else do you think might be locked inside a card or a part of these games?

Tune in next week when I update Saturday at midnight or Sunday morning to catch chapter :3.


	4. Hydra

**Star Catcher**

**Summary**: Police Chief Kakashi found a small girl in the woods and pulled her from the pond muck to raise as his own. Years later in the slightly odd town of Delphinium, where nothing exciting ever seems to happen, events are thrown into motion that kick off an enchanted game as old as starlight. The game takes its toll on those who bear the mark, both the young and the old. Sakura loses something precious to her and must compete in the games to win back what was taken from her, no matter the cost.

_Falling Stars don't fall forever._

* * *

Part 4

* * *

_._

* * *

Kakashi set down the paper bag on the table and moved away only long enough to get a pair of plates for himself and the girl. He started to remove the apples from the paper bag, lifting each on to his good eye to inspect before setting aside.

Once the paper bag was empty he replaced it on the floor and sat down in front of it with a knife. He took the biggest, reddest, juiciest looking apple and began to peel it with his knife, dropping the swirl of apple peel into the bag on the floor while she watched on.

He hummed quietly while he worked, and before long the able was naked of its skin and easily partitioned into slices for her plate. He pushed the plate with her apple slices towards her and then picked out a new apple to begin peeling.

Sakura watch him while he worked, spotting the bruise on the apple staining its side every time Kakashi rotated it around in his hands. Before much longer it was just as bare as hers and easily cut into slices. He ate the bruised slices, content with the imperfect fruit after having so carefully picked out a perfect specimen for her.

"I want one with a spot on it too," Sakura breathed.

Kakashi looked up and frowned. "That's a bruise. Eating those is no good for you."

"_You_ ate it."

"Yes."

"Why?"

Kakashi shrugged. "It doesn't make a difference to me if something is a bit bruised. I don't mind."

For a heartbeat Sakura pretended he wasn't talking about the apple.

Kakashi took another slice off his plate and absently chewed it, not really watching or looking at anything while all she could do was stare with eyes too big for her small, malnourished face.

"I wanna be like you. I wanna eat one with spots."

Kakashi stopped chewing and looked up at her. She thought he was going to say something to rebuke her, maybe something like 'no you don't' or 'don't be silly.' Instead, he just stared for a while before pushing away his plate to inspect the rest of the apples on the table.

"None of these are bruised." He stood. "I can go get some more." He hesitated. "If…that's what you still want."

"You just got back."

"It doesn't matter to me if that's what you want."

There wasn't a good enough reason for it, but Sakura couldn't help herself.

She started to cry.

* * *

Guy had been mistaken.

The night hadn't passed on uneventful.

Dark beasts slouched between the spaces left by ancient trees. Wicked things depended on lesser creatures and the soil soaked up their blood. Asura watched some of them from the window and smiled at others. With his teeth bared, his smile was a warning too clear not to ignore and the small cabin slept on, not even the dogs any wiser.

It was the hour when twilight's equal ushered in the morning mist off a nearby lake, and began to light the world in colors that Sakura roused. It was too early. She knew it was too early for her to be waking up on her own, and that if she was awake there had to be some other reason for it.

Bagel was so closer her fingers had found his soft fur in her sleep and entwined there. Mop whined from behind her and she rolled over to look where his pointed stare was directed. Ginger and Chainsaw were both under her bed, a usual haunt for her golden, but not the Terrier.

She slipped out of bed into a pair of wrinkled jeans left on the floor and stumbled towards the door. A jacket hung on the wall next to the door she grabbed as she passed. Mop and Bagel dashed after her, hot on her heels. Kakashi's door was left open and the dogs were gone too.

"Asura?"

He was at her elbow, cupping his hand under it. "Outside," he hissed. "He met her only a moment ago and took the dogs."

"Something's wrong though," Sakura hissed back, running into her boots and leaving the laces to dangle free. "Why didn't you go with him?"

"I'm here to keep _you_ safe." He matched her hurried steps with ease as Sakura took the stairs down the pouch, two at a time.

Sakura saw Guy's car still in the driveway and then hugged the edges of the cabin, heading towards the back where the tarp was supposed to still be. There was more than just the tarp when she rounded the bend and found what her dogs were barking for.

"Guy!"

The back of his head was bleeding and Sakura's hands trembled at the sight. She touched his face and he groaned, making her breathing go a little easier. He was hurt but alive.

Asura bent down next to her and inspected his arm where the freckles were scattered and dark, yet unactivated. "He hasn't joined the game."

"Wh-who?" Sakura swallowed. "You said that a woman was here. Was it Anko?"

"I'm not sure who that is, but it was a woman who asked him out." He looked up over her head and glared. "I don't think she's far from this place. Where are his cards?"

She remembered the satchel from last night and stood up. The cards that meant being able to see Kakashi again. The satchel wasn't on him, so that meant he left the cards behind.

"_Inside_."

Mop started barking viciously at the window up above them, the one that connected to Sakura's room.

"Bagel, go!" Sakura commanded, throwing her hand out to gesture to the fastest in her pack. Mop started to follow but Sakura pointed to Guy and said, "_Protect_." The Irish wolfhound bared his teeth and stood over Guy while Asura, Sakura, and the rest ran. She knew better than to ask Asura to watch over Guy.

The door was left open from when they ran out earlier, but nothing else looked touched. It wasn't a large cabin, just large enough for a handful or rooms with corners.

Asura grabbed her shoulders and moved ahead of her and she saw that the hair around his face was standing up, more rugged than usual as something like static circled around his frame. He bent low and stalked towards Guy's room. Hand on the door he pushed it open and then was knocked backwards across the hall into Sakura's room. Inside Anko stood with a hand outstretched. A scattering of freckles glowed on her palm, not unlike the ones on her neck Kakashi had sealed up after the last game.

"You?!" Sakura raged as her brain caught up. "Kakashi came to help you!"

Anko turned her snake slit eyes onto Sakura and saw the shine of more marks. She hissed and dashed for the cards left scattered on the floor. She scooped a handful for herself and ran to the window.

She had lured Kakashi out, failed to help him at best and damed him at worst, then came back only to steal the only way Sakura knew how to bring him back.

She tasted bile in her throat as she ran, right out of her boots, skidding into the room and launching herself at Anko. The pair of them fell out the window in a rain of glass and tumbled out onto the porch.

Something with teeth bit at her but Sakura opened her third eye before she knew what she was doing and there was black fire burning up the head of a snake. Anko screamed and kicked away. Sakura almost tumbled off the ledge but Asura was there, burning with his own intensity. He caught her, sucked in a breath at the sight of her, then rounded with a war cry of his own.

Anko shook off Biscuit who went flying back into the house and then grabbed the railing, readying to launch herself off. From nowhere a blade cut through the air and bit into her shoulder. Sakura saw it raise again but not before Anko's nearest arm turned into a mess of snakes to wind up around his hand and hilt. The sword melted into starlight and then it was a battle ax in his free hand, swinging clean through all her snake heads to free his bound arm.

Biscuit was up again and readying himself to launch, but Sakura screamed at him to hold. Anko spit and it burned where it landed on Asura's clothes. With a shriek she sprayed and he had to turn away to keep the burn off his face. She took that opportunity to launch from the railing and race for the woods.

"Not this time, witch," he snarled, following close behind.

Sakura watched, pulling herself up and finding the bruises all over her body from what hurt the most. Her hands were littered with tiny cuts and she knew her face wasn't much better. Like a curtain snapping shut her third eye and the black flames were gone and she felt far more winded than she should have.

Biscuit whined at her and Ginger and approached her as well, whining too loudly to ignore. She didn't know where Chainsaw.

Sakura saw a burst of light, not like lightning, but no less brilliant. She couldn't help it, she looked, saw a halo of shivering cards in the air that darted off on their own, and then it was too much and she had to cover herself as the forest boomed with impact. It wasn't an explosion, but it was something close. The air was thick with magic as shockwave after shockwave pushed her back into the wall.

When the dust cleared Asura was proper up against a tree and Anko was nowhere to be found.

And as dust is ought to do, it settled.

Sakura dragged Asura back into the house, feeling like the world's biggest bruise. She left him on the couch and hoped he wasn't broken before going back for Guy. He was sitting up and blinking when she found him again. Mop barked hoping to be praised. With a coo she scratched Mop behind the ears and then knelt down beside Guy.

"How is your head?"

"I'll be fine. Anko-she-" he glanced up and saw beyond the corner of the property the edges of the earlier impact. The ground was ash colored and the sides of trees had huge chunks of their bark stained the same color. "She found the cards."

"She and Asura fought over them, I saw them fly off right before the explosion."

"It's what they're designed to do in such an event, to keep themselves safe. Did she get to all of them?"

Sakura remembered Kakashi's card still on her nightstand and the handful left on the floor in Kakashi's bedroom. It was barely a fraction of what they once had. "Most of them."

"Not all?"

Sakura shook her head and then helped him up. Inside she fetched ice for him as he texted into the office putting out an APB on Anko as a person of interest in a missing person investigation.

"No one is going to be able to find Kakashi, though."

"Doesn't matter. We keep up appearances least the lies overwhelm us."

Sakura felt like there would be plenty of lies she never counted on keeping before long.

Sakura swallowed, hating how she felt inside, watching Guy ice himself and Asura sleep on. "I'm so sorry about the cards. I didn't think she would be someone to-I trusted her too easily."

"We both did. The cards she didn't take, bring them here and keep them safe. I'll need to leave soon but not before you're ready to come back with me. This place is too far away from anything else to be safe, but it's good for the games."

"What do you mean?" Sakura asked even as she moved to do as he told her.

Aside from Kakashi's, there were three other cards left behind. That was much less than a full deck of twenty two.

"Basically, and the beginning of the games, dualists are chosen with marks like the ones you an I have. But the more marks they earn the stronger they become. Each card gives them a constellation, but not without a trail. Each contestant must fight or work to 'invert' the card or bring out its image, and only then may he or she don the new mark."

"And some cards suck you in for a trial, but others let things loose into your world for it."

Guy and Sakura both turned to see Asura sitting up from his spot on the couch, holding the front of his face and blinking rapidly. When he stopped pulling himself up his eyes went wide and he dropped his hand before a final blink and he turned to face them, no worse for wear as far as she could tell.

"You're okay," Sakura breathed, deflating a bit.

He didn't look away for her as he swung himself up over the back of the couch and approached her at the table. When he was close enough he touched the edges of her face with the pads of his fingertips, sucking in a breath when she flinched.

"You're bleeding."

"It's from the glass." Sakura explained, knowing she hadn't managed to come out unscathed.

"Asura, the first aid kit is behind the mirror in the bathroom. Grab it," Guy instructed.

Sakura thought Asura might argue or ruffle at the command, but he disappeared without complaint and came back with the kit in hand. He opened it for Guy and held out his hand for the things Sakura would need.

"Use this to clean the cuts," Guy told him, handing over a pad that was cold and stung when it touched her cuts.

Sakura bit her lip and endured it as Asura carefully tended and treated her wounds. He used bandaids for a few of the worst cuts when Guy told him to, and did the same on her neck and hands where other shards of glass had trailed red through her skin.

"It'll be worse than this in some of the trials," Guy sighed, watching one of her wounds being cleaned.

"No, it won't," Asura quickly interjected. "This will be the worst. I-I'll keep anything else from happening to you. We won't be caught off guard like that again."

Sakura pulled her hand away and then reached for his, forcing Asura to look up at her face instead of her wounds and see her smile. It made him still.

"Thank you, Asura. It would have been far worse if you weren't there."

They all cleaned up and ate. Sakura fed the dogs and packed up her things while Guy and Asura managed some temporary patch over the window she had broken. The monster under the tarp stayed where it was, no one having the energy or motivation to do more with it.

Before too long Guy was helping her into the cruiser and then leaving Asura to slid in himself behind her and the rest of the dogs. They all agreed that it was too risky for anyone to stay at the cabin, being as remote as it was. If someone or something came for her, she'd be than much further from others.

Sakura glanced down at Kakashi's card where in addition to his drowned drawing, there were a number of hounds she recognized from her childhood. No wonder they lived so long.

"Anko isn't the only one in this race. There are others you must be weary of, even if they aren't your outright enemy."

"Everyone is an enemy," Asura added in a whisper, watching Guy with distrust.

It took an hour to make the drive back, and in that time the three of them had come up with a decent enough explanation for Asura's presence. He could make himself unseeable to those outside of the game, or virtually invisible, but it would serve him better to save his energies for other things and not wast himself on cantrips.

The driveway was long, but not as long as the one to the cabin. By the time they were halfway to the house and past all the heavy foliage, the outline of Yamato's cruiser came into view.

Sakura went stiff. "What is he doing here?"

A second figure got out and Sakura went from stiff to enraged.

"What are both of them doing here?"

"Who?" Asura asked, leaning forward.

Sakura pointed and named both the figures before glaring back over at Guy. "Kakashi isn't even a missing person officially until I file a report I thought. Why are they here?"

"A police chief going missing is a serious matter, and even if it's not official they'll want to be in on it to help. Besides, both of them have marks."

Sakura sat back in her seat, stunned. "But they're…"

"Yamato is the only one who knows about it. Shisui is an anomaly we would rather watch closely than not watch at all since he's not marked like you and I. But don't worry, I'll be speaking with them. They'll understand if I tell them you and your _cousin_ are exhausted and need to rest."

"Second cousin," Asura corrected, sounding just as instant on the detail as he had the first eight times it had come up.

Guy chuckled but Sakura just rolled her eyes as Guy parked. With an open door all of Sakura's dogs filtered out, climbing over seats to be free until it was only Sakura and Asura left behind in the back passenger seats. Sakura's heart pinched a bit when she thought about Kakashi's dogs and how they seemed to have disappeared into the night. Calling them and whistling them to come back did nothing. Just like him, they were trapped someplace she couldn't reach.

Guy stood talking with Yamato and Shisui, but Sakura still ducked her head, running a hand through her bangs to cover as much of her face as possible before exiting. She knew it was a long shot, but she hoped to get inside before either officer could see her. An hour later all her cuts and bruises only looked worse.

She was on the bottom steps to the porch when Shisui called out her name. She groaned and hiked her shoulders even further. When she turned she saw the exact moment he saw her face.

"H-hey, are you okay? What happened to your face? Sakura?"

He sounded sincere, but she had endured too many years of his teasings to believe anything he said.

"Guuuuuy!" she called.

"Hmm?" He turned around to look at her. Beside him Yamato flinched.

"Do I owe this officer an explanation?"

Shisui began to sputter but Guy waved to her and called out that he would take care of it, that she needed to go in and rest. Shisui tried asking again but Sakura shielded her face behind a curtain of hair and took the steps two at a time.

"He-hey, who are you? You can't just go in there." Shisui stopped in front of Asura, scowling at how he was a half a head shorter. "What are you doing with Sakura and Guy?"

Asura's smile curled at the corners. Almost mocking Sakura's earlier voice he called to Guy. "_Guuuuy_, do _I_ owe this officer an explantation too?"

Guy sighed, rubbing his face. "No, I'll handle it. Just go inside and check up on Sakura, please."

Shisui gaped and Asura slipped behind him, smiling like the cat that got the cream. When he walked in behind Sakura he was still smiling.

"You should have seen his face. Hey, Sakura…Sa-Sakura?"

She stood in the middle of the hallway, looking into the living room, the kitchen further back, and then up the stairs to the second floor.

To her left the wall stretched on with a handful of shut doors, leading downstairs and into side rooms filled with books and junk Kakashi never could get rid of. A pair of his old boots lay messily next to her sandals. The hooks by the front door still hung his police jacket and her cardigan.

Everything was as she left it.

But there was no Kakashi.

"Sakura?" he tried her name again and touched her shoulder.

Like a house of cards she crumbled at the touch, falling to her knees and holding herself as the tears came. She cried from the pain that came from somewhere deeper than memory. A long time ago she had wept for the darkness and solitude, crying out for someone to save her.

Kakashi had been there once, but now even he was gone.

She didn't care if they could hear her crying from outside. The walls weren't thin, but neither were her sobs as she bit her palms to keep the sobs from breaking her apart.

She heard Asura kneel down beside her, his hand on her shoulder keeping it warm. He tugged her off her knees into his arms and tucked her head under his chin, careful to not touch the bruises on her face. He touched her scalp and followed the long trail of hair, petting stray pieces back against her skull. He made a rhythm out of it that helped ease her sobs into something manageable.

He kissed her hair and whispered close to her ear, voice cracking. "It-It's going to be okay. We'll get him back. We'll do anything you want, just don't cry."

Outside, Shisui stood in place, staring at the front door and listening to her cries while Yamato and Guy pretended their hearts weren't breaking for her sorrow.

* * *

_End Chapter _

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AN: Oh noes, it's an emotional chapter with plenty of ups and downs. Poor Sakura does not deserve the stress that she is in for but she is a champ about it (plus she's getting some tasty eye candy to help).

Thank you guys for all the love and support.

Tune in next week when I update Saturday at midnight or Sunday morning to catch chapter :3.


	5. Leo

**Star Catcher**

**Summary**: Police Chief Kakashi found a small girl in the woods and pulled her from the pond muck to raise as his own. Years later in the slightly odd town of Delphinium, where nothing exciting ever seems to happen, events are thrown into motion that kick off an enchanted game as old as starlight. The game takes its toll on those who bear the mark, both the young and the old. Sakura loses something precious to her and must compete in the games to win back what was taken from her, no matter the cost.

_Falling Stars don't fall forever._

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Part 5

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_._

* * *

A shower later Sakura came out feeling better, but still close to horrible every time she walked into a room to find it empty. Still, after her cry it was a horror she managed to push down enough to function.

She would need to if she wanted to be useful.

"Do you know why I had three marks instead of just two or one?"

Asura looked up from where he had beed playing with Ginger. The Golden retriever whined and pawed at his still hands, wanting more. He blinked at Sakura, the first time seeing her since her sobbing fest on the doorstep.

"That-I don't know. It would have to be something Kakashi answered, I take it. Sometimes marks can be passed on to substitutes if they've won, but…" He ducked his head and stood, avoiding her eyes. "I don't have the answer right now."

"Is it important to know?" she asked, touching the front of her flannel pajamas. Underneath the fabric her freckles still vibrated with a far off power. "Anko called them something weird."

"Secondary and tertiary, it just means your second set and third set and I think she just wanted to sound fancy. The mark you were born with, the one that destined you for the games was probably this one," he said, pointing to his forehead. "It's a lucky one too. The Eye from the Glass Kingdom is a powerful card, just, not as powerful as me."

She asked if glass cards were more powerful than gold or black cards and he explained that it all depended on the card itself and its history. Every game came with a new set or rankings. When she didn't ask anything else he reached for her hands and tugged her closer, careful to avoid the cuts along her fingers.

"I want to bring Kakashi back now."

"It's late. You should rest."

It was the same as Guy's warning, to not do anything until the morning when he would be back. It didn't help her restlessness. She swallowed, knowing there was plenty of daylight left.

"I don't think I can. Please."

He seemed to come undone at her 'please' if his face crumbling was any clue. "Put something warm on first," he said, looking away from her.

Fifteen minutes later she was leading him out the back gate into the woods, somewhere near enough to be safe but also far enough to minimize the dangers. If the games were starting up again there would be more of those 'enforcers' roaming the woods and looking for duelists to provoke or consume. Sakura had no desire to meet another creature like the one under the tarp, so they kept the house in sight, but just barely.

"It'll be pretty safe for you, since I'm here to do the heavy lifting. If it's a battle card, I fight in your place," Asura explained.

"What if it's not a battle card? You said there were puzzle cards too."

"Yeah, something tells me you're going to do fine with those." He glanced back at her over his shoulder and grinned. "I can already tell that my duelist is super smart!"

She couldn't help but blush a bit. "How could you tell such a thing?"

"You left most of your books out. I had a look through them while you cleaned up." His thumb rubbed over her fingers where they were joined. "You're so studious. So many of them had notes and colored marks."

"Th-that doesn't make me smart. Sometimes I struggle a lot with the material and have to spend hours going over it. Pl-plus that's for school. Everyone does that much."

He chuckled and then tugged on her hand to stop them. "This should be far enough. Do you have the cards?"

Sakura pulled a modest stack out from her hoodie's front pocket. At the top was the blank card that had once been Guy's. Anko had called him the 'Golden Lion' and Sakura had put two and two together when she saw the old constellation on his arm. She held up Leo the Lion and the early evening light made the gold edges glow.

"What now?"

"Do you remember when you called me?" he touched the spot on his chest where her marks would have been. "Do you remember using your power then?"

Sakura took a half step back and held up the card. She inhaled and felt for the current of power, that was new and burning in her. The mark on her forehead and chest throbbed as new magic drained out of them to sink into the card. A design started to emerge and the clearer it became the more distorted the world around them turned.

The trees warped, stretching higher and thinner until they were as white as the wicks of candles lit afire by a passing shooting star. Somewhere deep in the burning forest there was a lion roaring.

"Beautiful, you did fantastic," Asura praised, reaching for both her hands and tugging her close. He kissed the crown of her skull and then tugged her along. "We have to find the lion and trap him inside your card next. I'll keep you safe, come on!"

She could feel the heat from the burning trees as the ran in between their rows. Just past the edges of the firelight there were creatures slinking in and out of shadows, always only in the corner of her vision.

She could tell they were getting close to something when the flames went from red to blue and flickered into shapes of agonized bodies, screaming on a pyre.

"Don't be afraid, I'm with you," Asura panted as he pulled her along. "Don't fear. I got you."

As hot as it was, as terrible as the flames felt, Sakura didn't sweat, she just suffered the feeling of burning up with heat. She thought it would become too much and she would have to shed her layers when Asura pulled her back, just out of the path of a crackling tree falling right across their path. Another fell just behind them, hemming them in.

"A trap?" Sakura gasped.

"Not for me," he laughed, holding out his hand. His palm glowed with white light and then he sung an enormous fan into existence.

"That'll only make the flames worse!" Sakura exclaimed.

"Not like this it won't. Watch."

He roared and swung the fan wide. A gust shook the trees and shattered the fallen log, scatter its pieces back into the folds of the forest. The rest of the flames recovered with a vengeance, burning brighter.

At the end of the path, now that he had cleared it, a white red lion stood atop a stone, eyes burning like white fires while the red flames of his mane flickered around its face. It roared and Asura's fan turned into a sword he wielded with skill and speed.

"Keep your eyes on me and stay impressed," Asura laughed, sounding so self confident while Sakura could only tremble.

There was so much magic in the air around them, it was stifling, yet that didn't even make Asura flinch-if anything it seemed to invigorate him.

The lion charged and the two clashed.

Sakura watched, awestruck as the two bodies battled. Asura had always felt or looked human to her, but when he moved he flickered into something non corporal, glittering like milky starlight that couldn't be touched by Leo's claws.

Clash

Clash

**Clash**

But then the flames were between her and the scene and she couldn't see Asura anymore. She couldn't see anything anymore. She screamed for him and ran where she could, searching for a break she could get around. She got turned around, because she could have sworn they were in front of her, but behind her she heard Asura scream. When she looked that way Leo had his claws in Asura's chest.

"Run, Sakura!"

Leo turned his face her way and it was like looking at the sun. Sakura winced and felt her knees bend. She was shaking, and knew it was fear that made her falter. Asura called for her again, screaming at her to get out, to leave him and stay safe.

Leo roared and his jaws stretched wide to bite at Asura's face.

Sakura screamed and moved before she knew what she was doing. She ran like a fool and reached to push the lion's body off Asura. And it shouldn't have worked like it did, but Asura screamed that she was going to die if she didn't turn back, just as she reached them. Leo's teeth released Asura around the throat just as she reached them. She burned her hands on its body but it stumbled off Asura.

So close she could see how small she was compared to the Lion. It towered taller than a horse and when it roared, her whole body fit in its mouth.

There were tears on her face but she didn't move. She stood over Asura and cried, too scared to regret her choices. She felt her third eye and prayed it would save her because she wasn't sure what else she would do.

Please, I don't want to lose anyone else again!

She pooled what she could of her magic into the space behind her forehead, gambling on it being enough to open her third lid.

Don't leave me alone again.

**Snap**

The trees stopped burning and the illusion under her feet melted.

The real Asura called to Sakura from across the forest floor, leaping away from the fire monster that extinguished like a wet candle. He screamed when he saw how close the lion was to her, but Leo didn't advance.

The lion stretched his face towards her, flames flickering from his mane. She heard his voice in her head and stiffened.

"What a small thing you are to stand up to me. You were brave. Worthy indeed."

It roared and its form melted into a single flame that washed over her. Sakura braced for the sting of a burn, but she remained untouched aside from a scattering of freckles over her wrist, glowing gold and warm.

Asura whooped and grabbed her around the waist, spinning her around and turning with her lifted up as the world melted back.

"You did it!" he cheered. "You've won your first card. Oh, I should have known it was a Character Test. Your heart was tried and the Golden Lion found you brave enough to dwell in."

Sakura blinked, still a bit too shocked. "But I was so scared." The tears were still on her face. "I thought it was going to eat you."

"As if it could! Oh, but you were brilliant." He let her down but continued to hold her waist for support when it looked like her legs were made out of jelly. "I'm so terribly delighted. Lets try another card!"

"Asura," Sakura whined, still feeling tears in her eyes. She dropped her head onto his chest and he chuckled, tugging her closer.

"Or maybe it's time you actually got that rest we were all bugging you about." He started to head back towards the house, just as evening bloomed out of afternoon skies.

Sakura followed along, finding the strength in her legs once more.

She changed into pajamas and stoked the fireplace while Asura followed her directions in the kitchen. A pizza was in the oven, baking for the pair of them. She turned on the television and loaded an old movie she didn't plan on paying too much attention to and then called Chainsaw up onto her lap while the other dogs lounged around the fire, happy for the heat. It crackled soothingly as an old episode of something in black and white played on the television.

Asura looked so proud of himself when he brought the pizza into the living room and served her a slice, keeping the rest out of reach from the dogs. When she thanked him he beamed.

"I'm glad you're feeling better."

She hummed, pulling her slice up over Chainsaw's head when he barked for a bite. With her free hand she pushed him back into the cushions and even though he yipped in frustration, his tail wagged.

"Sleepier than I thought I'd be," she admitted around a yawn.

"It's been an exhausting day."

Asura helped himself to a couple of slices as Sakura mulled over his words. The weekend was ending, but without school in the morning she had nothing to look forward to. Her plans had always been to enjoy the time off with Kakashi, doing something recreational in nature that they would both end up frustrated with and then laugh off.

It still hurt to even think of him, but Sakura was the type of person that couldn't help but pick at her scabs and push on her bruises. She thought of Kakashi and it was like a knife twisting in her heart.

Asura's hand on the high bend of her knee brought her back to the present. He was sitting down by her feet, on the cushion she had stuffed her toes under while curling up on the couch. There was pizza sauce at the corner of his mouth.

"I'm so proud of you and all you've done. You deserve to rest, not just your body, but your heart too. If it pains you that much, think about other things."

Sakura laughed and it sounded wet, even in her own ears. "Like what?"

"You could always think about me!" He pulled back to strike a comical pose. "I'm new and interesting and you probably don't know too much about me yet. Ask me, ask me something."

"Will you answer?"

"Of course." He pouted and leaned in. "That doesn't count as a question, by the way."

Sakura wiggled her toes under the couch cushion he sat on top of. "Okay then, what's your favorite food."

"I like lots of sea food, fresh caught squid and plenty of fish with butter and herbs." He took a bit of her pizza and moaned a little happy moan. "But I really like this pizza too."

"It's okay," Sakura agreed. "It's better when you order it for delivery. This is freezer pizza, so it's pretty sub par."

He licked a chunk of tomato off his thumb and stuffed the rest of his pizza crust into his mouth, chewing around it to talk. "I think it's fantastic. What are your favorite foods?"

"I thought you wanted me to ask questions about you."

"It's a give and take thing. So, what is it? What do you like most?"

Sakura reached for another slice just a bit bigger than her hand and bit off the tip, catching a chunk of pepperoni with her teeth. "I like a lot of food as long as it's prepared well. When I was younger I had a real sweet tooth. You'll have to try french fries some time, along with a good burger. I'm weak for takeout food."

"I'm familiar with he concept but…" his words trailed off as his gaze moved from her to a nearby window. "I've not yet had the pleasure. Will you take me?"

"Sure, I think I can manage that much." She ignored the proper end of the pizza and bit off a chunk of crust. "How much of my life are you familiar with, anyway?"

"Facts and learned truths are easier, but I don't know how you feel about things or people. I didn't see things through a peephole. I just sort of, absorbed parts of your life. I know what french fries are, I have no idea what they taste like. I know who Shisui Uchiha is, but I have no idea how you feel about him or Yamato or…or anyone else for that matter."

"Interesting," Sakura murmured, returning to the sauce and cheese of her pizza.

Asura leaned in. "So, what do you think of the members of Kakashi's police force?"

When Sakura glared he grinned. "I answered one of your questions. Help me out, I just want to know better."

"Shisui is an Uchiha, so his family has connections in the city. He's interning here for a couple of years, but he should be moving on soon. Yamato was trained by Kakashi and was an underclassman from forever ago, so he's pretty close to our family."

"I know those things. What is your feeling or opinion of these men?"

Sakura finished off her pizza slice. "Shisui is a spoiled brat that teases too much and Yamato would be someone I'd feel comfortable trusting."

"But not the Uchiha?"

Sakura hoped she wasn't blushing. "Don't think any more about it, it's not a big deal. He's just sorta a bully, but the harmless variety. I find him annoying."

Asura laughed and reached over to scratch Chainsaw who was sniffing in the cushions for crumbs. "Good to know, good to know."

"Your turn, what's your relationship with this other guy?" Sakura traced the pattern of dull colored freckles mirroring Asura's pearl colored ones. "The other card has a man in it just like you. What do you know of him? Are you twins?"

"Ugh, you're going to ask me about my brother, of all things?" He pouted. "That's not a question about me."

"You made me talk about an Uchiha, get used to it."

"His name is Indra, and he's my brother. We're not close. He tried to kill me once. When we lost the games we fall into cards from different kingdoms, but we ended up championing the same card somehow. He's useless and not worth the trouble."

Sakura watched him a moment more and then reached back to find her water canister. "You said that, but," she began, taking a sip. "I can't help but think you want to see him again."

He flushed from ear to ear. "I-I just said he wasn't worth the trouble. Wh-why would you think some-something like that, eh?"

"You have a falling out or something?" she guessed.

"You're asking another question but its my turn!"

"So you did have a falling out."

"Don't confirm what I didn't say all on your own. And-and don't you know this isn't the easiest thing to talk about? Don't you have estranged family?"

Sakura sipped her water and then popped the 'p' at the end of a simple, 'nope.' Asura only groaned in frustration.

"Kakashi is the only family I have, and he's not even technically my dad. He adopted me years ago but…he never married or took in a significant other and he never had any other children I could call siblings, so I have no idea what it's like. All I know is Kakashi, and…and since he's been taken from me, I know I'd do anything to see him again, to hear his voice, to talk with him even if he's scolding me for forgetting my phone someplace stupid. I'd give anything to have him back again, so I'm sorry if I can't understand why you wouldn't want to be with your brother."

Asura poked at the feet she had burrowed under the cushion he sat on. "It sounds like your Kakashi was a pretty neat guy, even if he wasn't your real dad. He must have cared for you a lot."

"…He did, but he was a mess in the beginning not knowing how to take care of a child, much less an emotionally stunted little girl that couldn't remember anything or even speak for the six months."

"You couldn't speak?"

Sakura shook her head. "Completely nonverbal. I regained that ability later on and it's probably the best memory I have, seeing his face after I asked him for seconds at diner. He just looked so-"

Words failed her as Sakura remembered back to the moment, when shock melted into joy and the tears came up to spill from his eyes. He told her he'd give her all the food she'd ever want and feed her till she was as fat as a pig. When he held her face his hands shook and when he got onto his knees to hug her she remembered being swallowed in his arms. Kakashi wasn't an emotional man, and wasn't easily moved to such reactions. It was the only time she remembered ever seeing him cry in front of her apart from her graduation…but that time didn't count cause everyone was crying.

"I was so lucky that he was the one who found me that day. I'd do anything for him."

It was a while before Asura spoke up again, and it was only after he had finished off the last of the thin crust pizza. In the comfortable silence that bloomed between them, he had moved off the couch to sit on the floor next to the dogs and run his fingers through their fur, thinking as he stroked them into slothful bliss.

"How much do you remember before Kakashi found you?"

"Very little. Not much at all, why?"

He shrugged. "It must have been interesting if you have no memory of it and was left with no voice from it. I'm wondering if it has anything to do with the extra two marks you stated off with. It's unusual since we all start out with only one at the beginning of the games."

Sakura opened her mouth to ask him for his own theories when the doorbell rang. Half the dogs set to barking and running for it, half eager half warning. Sakura groaned, pushing away the blankets to stand and head to the door. Asura made to follow her but she waved him back. Here was no need to introduce him to more of the world when it wasn't yet necessary.

She saw shadows throughout the curtained windows on either side of the door and had a suspicion who it could be before she reached the threshold. When she saw Karin, Naruto, and the boy's twin brother Menma, she suspected Guy's handiwork.

Karin stood at the front and sported a duffle bag that hung from her left shoulder. She pushed herself in first and paved the way for her cousins to follow.

"Move it, Funny Face, we're crashing for the week until they find your dad. We heard about your shifty-ass cousin." Karin dropped her things in the hallway and popped a hip. "Where you putting us?"

Yup, definitely Guy.

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_End Chapter _

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AN: I am 10000% here for magical girl transformations, victory through kindness, and found families/friends like family. Yall, I'm here to treat myself and give this story all my fav things.

I got a little delayed in posting this because someone had to borrow my laptop so sorry for the delay.

Thank you guys for all the love and support.

Tune in next week when I update Saturday at midnight or Sunday morning to catch chapter :3.


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